Fixing Agriculture

NY Times Editorial

Tom Vilsack, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Agriculture Department has the merit of being unsatisfactory to both extremes of the farm-policy debates.

Zealous advocates of sustainable agriculture question his support of biotechnology, while partisans of the status quo find him insufficiently loyal to the system of farm subsidies. That leaves him with a very large center of support. He’ll need it to move this country’s broken agricultural policy in a new direction.

During his days as governor of Iowa, Mr. Vilsack embraced innovation — encouraging the use of farmland to produce energy from ethanol and wind power, while promoting better treatment of migrant workers. He has the additional advantage of having governed a state where small, innovative farms are emerging.

The department he will inherit, while responsible for extraordinary gains in research and productivity, has long favored the biggest farmers. That has produced a sterile landscape of factory farms, broken towns and endless miles of row crops like corn and soybeans.

Last year’s terrible farm bill left the old subsidy system essentially intact. But Mr. Vilsack can prepare the ground for the next one. He should endorse a modest cap on price supports so that they would benefit small farmers. He also has expressed a welcome desire to end the vertical integration in the packing industry that allows giant meatpackers to own the animals they process.

He also must take an impartial look at corn ethanol. Congress has mandated a big increase in production as a prelude to more advanced biofuels. But first the country needs an honest assessment of corn ethanol’s pluses and minuses, its effect on climate change and food prices and its reliability as a source of income for farmers.

The Agriculture Department also houses the Forest Service, which means Mr. Vilsack will be responsible for the national forests. The Bush administration has waged an eight-year assault on President Bill Clinton’s roadless rule, which offered permanent protection from commercial development to about 60 million roadless acres. Mr. Vilsack should reaffirm that rule and expand its protections to include Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

The department’s programs influence many critical issues — conservation, nutrition, rural development and, through the food-stamp program, the well-being of lower-income Americans. These are powerful tools for change and equity. The next secretary must use them wisely.